Question Full dump file for TP-Link Archer C5400 Router ?

[erfannik70]

Hello readers
I have a TP-Link Archer C5400 v2 Korean region router and the router program is broken and the full dump file must be taken and the MAC address changed so that I can use the router again.
He refused support and there is no support from tplink at all
I am in service and if you have access to the full dump file of the C5400, please send it to me.
Or help us to download the full dump, I couldn't find any file for C5400 on the internet

 

[Ralston18]

Not sure about "dump file".

I think you are referring to the router's firmware.

That would be avialable via TP-Link.

FYI:

https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/download/archer-c5400/

No need to change the MAC.

 

[bill001g]

You can get the OS firmware files on the tplink site.

 

[erfannik70]

You can get the OS firmware files on the tplink site.

The firmware on the TP LINK site works when the router itself can install it. My router is stuck in the restart loop and it must be programmed on the IC itself with a programmer, and the program and source code must be copied from the router of the same 5400 router. There is a full dump on my router and the name of the source code

 

[Ralston18]

Is the objective to copy the firmware from one router to another router?

Exactly what steps have been taken with respect to the "dump file" and reinstalling the firmware?

Procedure(s)?

 

[bill001g]

Maybe look for dd-wrt images. If you can get that loaded than you can use dd-wrt to load the factory image

 

[erfannik70]

Is the objective to copy the firmware from one router to another router?

Exactly what steps have been taken with respect to the "dump file" and reinstalling the firmware?

Procedure(s)?

Yes, the purpose of copying the operating system from one router to another router is because the operating system of my router crashed and got stuck in the boot loop, the operating system must be installed like this, and the router does not show any reaction to anything, so this is the only solution.

 

[erfannik70]

Maybe look for dd-wrt images. If you can get that loaded than you can use dd-wrt to load the factory image

Can you explain more?
About dd file wrt
Where can I get the file for this router?

 

[BFG-9000]

That is not how Broadcom routers work. They have a CFE, which is equivalent to a BIOS (it's just their version of U-Boot or RedBoot), and the firmware available for download is equivalent to an OS. The better manufacturers actually put the CFE on a separate NOR serial chip rather than on the NAND flash along with the firmware, so it's way harder to corrupt.

I seriously do not understand why no router manufacturer using Broadcom SoC except ASUS leaves the recovery webserver enabled in the CFE--as it is supplied to them by Broadcom, if the firmware fails to boot or you press the reset button right after power-on it will take you to a webpage where you can do nothing except upload firmware. Most companies intentionally disable that for some reason, but some like Netgear will at least leave the TFTP running so if you time it just right you can begin uploading a firmware before the firmware boots.

TP-Link disables both the recovery webserver and TFTP so your only option is to open it up, attach a USB to TTL Serial adapter and hit CTRL-C to stop the boot process, then via commandline enable the TFTP option. To add insult to injury, TP-Link usually does not put pins into the serial header so soldering is required--hey something has to give if you are cheapest. I think they want it to break and be so inconvenient to fix that you will buy a new one.

Since it is boot cycling over and over, either you have a bad PSU (which is very common), or the firmware is good enough to start booting but then crashes after the CFE hands off control to it.

There is no known 3rd party firmware for that router, but hardware-wise it is very similar to the Archer C3150 or RT-AC88U/RT-AC3100 or DIR-885L. It's probably closest to the latter because that one also features two flash chips, but if you wanted 3rd party firmware support it's worth paying more for a more popular router.

 

[erfannik70]

That is not how Broadcom routers work. They have a CFE, which is equivalent to a BIOS (it's just their version of U-Boot or RedBoot), and the firmware available for download is equivalent to an OS. The better manufacturers actually put the CFE on a separate NOR serial chip rather than on the NAND flash along with the firmware, so it's way harder to corrupt.

I seriously do not understand why no router manufacturer using Broadcom SoC except ASUS leaves the recovery webserver enabled in the CFE--as it is supplied to them by Broadcom, if the firmware fails to boot or you press the reset button right after power-on it will take you to a webpage where you can do nothing except upload firmware. Most companies intentionally disable that for some reason, but some like Netgear will at least leave the TFTP running so if you time it just right you can begin uploading a firmware before the firmware boots.

TP-Link disables both the recovery webserver and TFTP so your only option is to open it up, attach a USB to TTL Serial adapter and hit CTRL-C to stop the boot process, then via commandline enable the TFTP option. To add insult to injury, TP-Link usually does not put pins into the serial header so soldering is required--hey something has to give if you are cheapest. I think they want it to break and be so inconvenient to fix that you will buy a new one.

Since it is boot cycling over and over, either you have a bad PSU (which is very common), or the firmware is good enough to start booting but then crashes after the CFE hands off control to it.

There is no known 3rd party firmware for that router, but hardware-wise it is very similar to the Archer C3150 or RT-AC88U/RT-AC3100 or DIR-885L. It's probably closest to the latter because that one also features two flash chips, but if you wanted 3rd party firmware support it's worth paying more for a more popular router.

Thank you for the valuable information, but I don't have serial conversion, and as you said, tp link has closed TFTPD on this series of routers, and it must be activated with TTL, and bootloop is also disabled.
Unfortunately, I do not have the necessary facilities for this work, but there are 4 pins on the router for this work, but soldering is required.
I searched the internet for the conversion, but I couldn't find the devices in my area and they don't ship to my city

 

[BFG-9000]

TTL serial cable is the easy way but only works if you have a working CFE, which it sounds like you do because it is attempting to boot.

The hard way is with a JTAG cable, which works even if there is no response at all. It's what you would use to program a CFE when it is broken. Using it to fix an OS issue is like instead of installing Windows the normal way, you remove the disk and write an image to it using your phone, for transplant back to the PC afterwards.

The reason nobody has a dump of all the partitions is because the only way to get it is by soldering in one of these cables which nobody would do unless it was broken, so the easiest way to get it is to buy another Archer C5400 v2

Note that often the MAC address and radio calibration values are in a separate partition, so you will want to preserve that and only write into the firmware partition. Blindly using a chip programmer or JTAG can erase these, or end up with partitions that aren't where the CFE or firmware expect them to be so they cannot be read. Despite the firmware itself being open-source under GPL, hidden or encrypted areas (kind of like those HDD viruses that wrote themselves to the service tracks--the Chinese government has to put their spyware somewhere and well, that's one of the very few router brands based in China we see in the West) or straight intentional corrupted sectors or misrepresented partition tables (just like copy-protection for game and movie discs) are fine strategies for keeping how your product works away from competitors. Because they would be really hard to reproduce using a chip programmer.